5 ms·

" It applies to every company equally. " It doesn't though. If laws are not prosecuted consistently, then they are not 'applied' consistently. There's a lot o

" It applies to every company equally. " It doesn't though. If laws are not prosecuted consistently, then they are not 'applied' consistently. There's a lot of populist and political outrage (and jealousy) in the EU that I think has disproportionately singled out FB and it lacks hugely material legitimacy on the data protection front. If FB magically had all EU citizens data hosted in the EU ... it wouldn't make a shred of a difference. Nobody would notice. It would be largely inconsequential. For corporate and government data, i.e. Google Docs, I think it starts to make much more of a difference. And if the EU would sort out their own IP laws (i.e. Ireland) they would be able to tax more efficiently. 'The Problem' is not so much FB or FAANGS, it's that Europe has been absent from the game and has zero winners in important and developing areas. If Google were based in Europe I think attitudes would be different and it would have little to do with 'data sovereignty'. I support the notion of regionally hosted data, but it's a bit of a distraction.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
sgift 5y ago
> It doesn't though. If laws are not prosecuted consistently, then they are not 'applied' consistently. Which company that breaks GDPR on the same scale as Facebook is not prosecuted though? If you make such an accusation please provide at least an example. If you mean that the EU is using more resources to hold Facebook accountable than some two person shop: Yes. In the face of limited personal and time, you'll have to choose which to pursue first. And the EU has wisely decided that going after the big companies first gives the most bang for the buck.
- thawaya3113 5y ago
  The alternative, of course, is the U.S. approach, where say the IRS will not go after the richest tax criminals at all, but instead will go after the poorest/middle class because they know the latter, unlike the former, cannot afford expensive lawyers to fight them in court.
thawaya3113 5y ago
Americans have been complaining about the EU fining American companies because they “lost” since at least the Microsoft penalties. And it has been a demonstrable lie right from the beginning, that only works because sites like HN, being US focused, will only post EU fines on American companies, and ignore the ones on European ones. But European regulators have almost always cracked down harder on European companies than American ones. Here, for example, is a list of the 25 largest GDPR fines from a couple of years ago. https://www.tessian.com/blog/biggest-gdpr-fines-2020/ https://www.tessian.com/blog/biggest-gdpr-fines-2020/ The vast majority of fines are against European companies (even if you slot the European subsidies of American companies, like Google Ireland, under the U.S.). Unsurprisingly the largest fines tend to be against massive U.S. companies for the simple reason that they have the most data, but despite the U.S. dominating online services, and as you state, EU companies “losing” online, GDPR has fines far more EU companies than US ones.
- CaptainZapp 5y ago
  May I add this chart to the discussion? http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/EU-GOOGLE-ANTITRUST/0H0012Y9L1DV/index.html http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/EU-GOOGLE-... Sure, a lot of American tech companies on the list, who were fined for their absolutely egregious and illegal actions. Daimler, Scania, DAF, Saint Gobain, Philips, Deutsche Bank and others are very European companies. It just seems more an issue that the American press in general just isn't very interested what happens in the rest of the world. Except if it involves an American company that is. If you don't believe that I suggest that you compare international reporting in The New York Times (arguably one of the papers with the highest proportion of international news) with a Frankfurter Allgemeine, or Neue Zürcher Zeitung, say.
  - jollybean 5y ago
    Again more evidence against your own point. That's anti-trust regulation and the majority of the fines clearly going to foreign companies. I don't have the data, but I'll bet $1000 that the majority of US anti-trust fines are nor targeted towards foreign companies, rather domestic. Europe imposes regulatory sanctions it seems for GDPR and anti-trust that disproportionately target foreign companies that seems clear.
wdb 5y ago
Plenty of companies based in EU are getting fined, have a look here: https://www.enforcementtracker.com https://www.enforcementtracker.com

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

sgift 5y ago

> It doesn't though. If laws are not prosecuted consistently, then they are not 'applied' consistently. Which company that breaks GDPR on the same scale as Facebook is not prosecuted though? If you make such an accusation please provide at least an example. If you mean that the EU is using more resources to hold Facebook accountable than some two person shop: Yes. In the face of limited personal and time, you'll have to choose which to pursue first. And the EU has wisely decided that going after the big companies first gives the most bang for the buck.

thawaya3113 5y ago
The alternative, of course, is the U.S. approach, where say the IRS will not go after the richest tax criminals at all, but instead will go after the poorest/middle class because they know the latter, unlike the former, cannot afford expensive lawyers to fight them in court.

thawaya3113 5y ago

Americans have been complaining about the EU fining American companies because they “lost” since at least the Microsoft penalties. And it has been a demonstrable lie right from the beginning, that only works because sites like HN, being US focused, will only post EU fines on American companies, and ignore the ones on European ones. But European regulators have almost always cracked down harder on European companies than American ones. Here, for example, is a list of the 25 largest GDPR fines from a couple of years ago. https://www.tessian.com/blog/biggest-gdpr-fines-2020/ https://www.tessian.com/blog/biggest-gdpr-fines-2020/ The vast majority of fines are against European companies (even if you slot the European subsidies of American companies, like Google Ireland, under the U.S.). Unsurprisingly the largest fines tend to be against massive U.S. companies for the simple reason that they have the most data, but despite the U.S. dominating online services, and as you state, EU companies “losing” online, GDPR has fines far more EU companies than US ones.

CaptainZapp 5y ago
May I add this chart to the discussion? http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/EU-GOOGLE-ANTITRUST/0H0012Y9L1DV/index.html http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/EU-GOOGLE-... Sure, a lot of American tech companies on the list, who were fined for their absolutely egregious and illegal actions. Daimler, Scania, DAF, Saint Gobain, Philips, Deutsche Bank and others are very European companies. It just seems more an issue that the American press in general just isn't very interested what happens in the rest of the world. Except if it involves an American company that is. If you don't believe that I suggest that you compare international reporting in The New York Times (arguably one of the papers with the highest proportion of international news) with a Frankfurter Allgemeine, or Neue Zürcher Zeitung, say.
- jollybean 5y ago
  Again more evidence against your own point. That's anti-trust regulation and the majority of the fines clearly going to foreign companies. I don't have the data, but I'll bet $1000 that the majority of US anti-trust fines are nor targeted towards foreign companies, rather domestic. Europe imposes regulatory sanctions it seems for GDPR and anti-trust that disproportionately target foreign companies that seems clear.

wdb 5y ago

Plenty of companies based in EU are getting fined, have a look here: https://www.enforcementtracker.com https://www.enforcementtracker.com